Trust me, I'm lying
by Onedayinneverland
Summary: "I have an idea, but you're not going to like it," It all started with Chocho's brilliant idea. Sarada pretends to be a boy so she can have the normal school life she always wanted. Nothing goes according to plan and now Boruto Uzumaki is her frenemy. (BoruSara, AU School, T for language)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"I have an idea but you're not gonna like it."

Sarada remembered these words so clearly in her mind that she could swear Chocho had just literally suggested the worse plan she had ever heard a minute and not 3 months ago. To be honest, she should expect nothing else of her best friend.

"Come to school with me!" She said, "It will be great, you can finally see the real world!" Lies.

As she studied the uniform neatly spread out on her bed she wondered if it made any difference to be home schooled and learn from her mom than to be in a classroom surrounded by people her own age but that would probably have nothing to do with her. She's 99% sure none of them would have to disguise as a boy because their father is a wanted criminal.

Sakura came in the room and picked up the dark green and blue trousers. She pouted, "I always wished I could send my little girl to school in a cute little skirt with matching socks!" She shrugged, "I guess this will have to do."

"Mom that is not why we're doing this."

Sakura nodded and used her best Sarada-impression voice, "Right, developing social skills and mingling is essential for my education."

"Mom," She warned, still looking at the mirror while struggling to fit her tie. Sakura walked and around her and did the tie knot herself.

"It's very hard for me to just let you go live on your own. Specially while you pretend to be a boy." Her tone gave away she was not entirely pleased with the last part of the plan.

"Do you think no one's gonna notice the girl-Uchiha parading around the school?"

"You could use another name." She winked, "You'd make a wonderful Sakura!"

"Yes, I'm sure no one would think twice about that." Sarada picked a dark wig from her nightstand, "I'll be fine mom, no one will be looking for a boy Uchiha."

Sarada readjusted the wig on her head and faced the mirror; she did look like a boy - a very skinny, nerdy boy.

Sakura sighed and contained her tears, "You look just like your father."

Sarada patted the duck but of her wig down, "The point was not to look like him, mom."

The pink haired woman shrugged, "I don't think anyone will remember how he looked like by now." She stepped forward, looked at her daughter closely and grinned. "The glasses and the smile give you a completely different look to Sasuke-kun. I must say I would have fallen for him even faster if he looked like this." Sarada's face turned a slightly darker shade of pink. She then walked to the bed and picked up her bag.

"Remind me how this is a good idea." Sakura mumbled as she followed her daughter out.

"It's not." Sarada paused, "Chocho is right. I can't live my whole life away from the real world."

Her mother shrugged and seemed to debate that for a second, "I was always told the Uchiha enjoyed their brooding loneliness."

Sarada responded with an annoyed look, "Bye, mama."

The pink haired woman stifled a laugh and gave a small wave as Sarada closed the door behind her. Sarada walked down the stairs of the apartment and stepped out into the cold morning wind; she took a deep breath - Two steps away into the real world and she was already regretting it.

Still, Sarada knew she could do this. She had studied and prepared herself well to be a boy; it's not like male teenagers were the hardest species to impersonate, she thought. Being an identity seeking smart-ass and acting like your non-existing penis is running the institution would later prove to be much harder than expected.

"How's your new live treating you, cutie?" A voice called from behind her. Choco ran up to her, wearing the female-version of their uniform. A cute high-waisted pleated skirt with the same navy blue and green checkered pattern, socks up to her knees, a white button-down shirt and a cute bow to make it all come together.

"We can go to school together-"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you are the worst at lying and it will take you 30 seconds to give this away."

"I would not give you away!"

"Would too."

"Would not."

"What's my name?"

"Sarad- I see what you're playing at." "Fine, have it your boring way then."

"Chocho…" She warned.

Chocho raised her hands innocently, "I swear I won't screw this up for you. I'm just going to walk you to school, make sure you don't get lost on your first day. You won't even see me for the rest of the day. Although I'm sure it will be heart breaking for you not to glimpse upon this beauty for a whole school day." Chocho flipped her hair and winked at Sarada, a playful smile gracing her features.

Sarada studied her with doubt, "Let's see how that goes."

They walked a few minutes more until a large gate appeared. The old Academy building where her parents had learned their first skills as shinobis had now been turned into a boring, normal school. 'This is the price of peace,' her mom had said over and over again.

"Head up, shoulders back, you can do it." Chocho whispered as she gave her back a light push of encouragement.

They walked together past the gate and made their way through the courtyard and into the main entrance. There were many students along that area, all seemingly sharing the non-lasting excitement for start of the new school year. Curious eyes turned to them every now and then, most girls wondering who the new dark haired student was. Sarada dismissed it at first as understandable curiosity but as Chocho showed her around the school and continued her long explanation about seemingly every nook and cranny, she noticed that the stares did not fade; if anything the students seemed to be more interested than before.

"Chocho." Sarada stopped in a corner and pull on Chocho's sleeve.

"Hm?"

"Is it in my head or is everyone looking at me?"

"What?" Choco looked around them and spotted the curious students here and there, failing miserably at being discreet.

"I feel observed, constantly," The girl pretending to be a boy said, "Please tell me I'm just being paranoid."

Chocho studied the people behind her. "Well, it could be because you're the new gi-guy," she stopped and took a deep breath, concentrating on their little charade. "Or it could be 'cause you do have your dad's looks."

"What the hell does that mean?" Sarada whispered angrily.

"Have you looked at yourself lately?" Chocho sighed, unsurprised by the other girl's blank stare. "It means you are one hot piece of a-"

Sarada quickly put her hand over her friends mouth, abruptly stopping her words.

"This cannot be happening," the girl pretending to be a boy hissed, "I was meant to be discreet!"

"You know there is an easy way out," Chocho offered, "Date me."

Sarada blinked at her, "How on earth do you think that would help anything?"

The bigger girl shrugged, "Well it will definitely help my school cred," she placed her hand under her chin and pondered. "And you know, people loose interest if they know you're taken," She paused and grinned. "Come one, you know we'd make a cute couple!"

The other cast a skeptical eye, "I'm not that desperate." The 'yet' was implicit.

As Chocho was about to offer another brilliant idea to decrease her friend's popularity - one that included unnecessary braces and a bowl haircut - she was pushed by a blond guy that spat, "Watch where you're going, Miss Piggy."

Sarada was about to step forward to interrupt him when Chocho held her arm as rolled her eyes, "Not worth it."

Three guys were walking past her. The blond boy with an attitude had a small ponytail and clearly short memory as he was now chatting excitedly to the middle one, completely pass his unnecessary verbal aggression. The one on the left had black spiky hair had his hands on his pockets, a bored to tears look on his face and was absently looking at the ceiling.

As they crossed paths the middle one looked her up and down, his smile changing into a smirk. Sarada raised an eyebrow and started walking away, once they were past hearing shot she turned to Chocho and pointed behind them, "Who's the weirdo?"

Chocho looked confused, "That's Boruto."

The pretend boy later revealed to an astonished Chocho that she'd never heard of Boruto and said in a slightly mocking tone: "Should I have bowed or something?"

"That is the son of your childhood hero."

"That's Uzumaki Boruto?" She sounded incredulous.

"Yes. What's so surprising about it? He's mini-Naruto at a glance."

"He looked so- so obnoxious."

"That's because he is," Chocho sighed, "Sara-Saru, you should know better than anyone else that we don't all take after our fathers."

"Good morning everyone. This is Saruhiko Haru and he will be joining our class. Please be kind to him and show him around as he is also new to the city."

"Hello everyone, please call me Saru. Thank you Mr. Konohamaru."

Sarada bowed and then made her way to the empty seat in the classroom. Curious eyes followed her as she walked, a few glares but more pink faces and giggly laughs than she expected.

"Seems like the little boy is already popular with the girls." Uzumaki Boruto spoke as if all the arrogance in the world could be concentrated in just one sentence.

Sarada looked at him from the corner of her eye and sat down. The blond was two desks away from her, leaning back on his chair, arms behind his head. His uniform barely resembled anyone else's just for the amount of untidiness it had going on - tie hanging loose, top shirt buttons open, shirt half tucked in and jacket nowhere to be found. Sarada looked at him and thought he could be honestly the most attractive guy she had ever seen, had it not been for the suffocating aura of jerkiness around him.

"I always wondered what's the thing that make girls attracted to nerdy ones like you."

"Leave him alone, Uzumaki." Chocho called out in a whisper, a few desks away from them.

The blond snickered, "Well, didn't you find a girlfriend real quick, Haru. Into the chubby ones, heh?" Sarada felt her eyebrow twitch while Chocho rolled her eyes and turned to the front again, she had had that conversation way to many times to still be bothered by it.

Sarada sat in silence for a few seconds then tilted her head slightly, "Is all this insecurity driven from your daddy issues?"

Never had she seen so many faces turn to her at the same time, sitting in stunned silence.

Boruto's face turned dark as he leaned forward, "Are we going to have a problem, pretty boy?"

"I don't know, are we?" Sarada had leaned forward as well; in between them Mitsuki smiled and pushed them both back to their seats. Mitsuki had light blue hair and bright yellow eyes; a strange combination that reminded her of a snake. He proved to be a man of few words that rarely answered with anything but a smile. Sarada couldn't be happier.

The teacher scoffed slightly and resumed his lecture, still taken back by the new student's word to Boruto. The kid had guts.

The whispering in the classroom restarted every few minutes, people looked at Sarada in amazement and then looked forward again as soon as they were noticed. The Uchiha tried her best to look only ahead and pay as much attention as she could to the young teacher's words. Still, it was very hard to focus when you could feel an aura of hate emanating from a certain blond classmate.

Sometimes she'd glance very slightly his way and she could clearly spot the burning glare that did not waver at all during the whole class. A few hours passed and the teacher announced it was lunch break time, advising caution and good behavior; it was clear to whom those warnings were aimed at.

Sarada stayed frozen in her seat, wondering what would follow as her classmates left in a noisy hurry. When she turned to look around the classroom was empty but for Chocho, who had her hand resting on her hip, an annoyed look on her face, "I can't decide if that was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid."

Sarada sighed, standing to pack her things, "I'm not just going to stand idly by while someone treats you like that."

The other girl raised her hands defensively, "Hey, I'm all for girl power and all that shit but that guy is a little unstable. He is not to be messed with."

"I can handle a spoiled brat with anger issues."

"Is that why you have been worriedly looking over your shoulder for the last few minutes?" Chocho shook her head and turned to leave, "His little crew always disappears for lunch. I think I'd be more worried about what's going to happen after school."

Sarada sighed and followed Chocho out. To be honest she didn't really think it through before she spoke against Boruto. The Uchiha heir forgot for a moment that she was now a boy and there was no chivalry rule to protect her from getting her ass beaten by the blond bully. Maybe she should avoid him for a while, after all she's rather fond of her nose, and she doesn't much want Boruto to break it.

Lunch went smoothly for a change in this colossal disaster of a day. Sarada introduced herself as Saru to Chocho's friends to avoid any of the name confusion her friend seemed adamant to make. Namida blushed head to toe during the introduction; her friend Wasabi rolled her eyes and apologized to Sarada as she offered a handshake. It was nice to meet new people that weren't out to kill her.

The carefree time didn't last and soon after Sarada was back in the classroom, praying to God to reward her courage with Boruto's amnesia. Time went by and the blond didn't show up to class. Sarada looked around and saw all his friends but for Inojin were there - Shikadai looking bored out his mind and Mitsuki still wearing that creepy smile of his. The blue haired boy noticed her looking and gave her a slight nod; she nodded back and quickly turned to look ahead to the board. That was one creepy boy.

At the end of class Chocho waited for everyone to leave and then made her way to Sarada who stood abruptly, "I just realized with all this anxiety that I haven't had a wee the whole day!"

Chocho suppressed a laugh, "Really, Sar-Saru?" Damn it, she almost got it.

"I'm serious, Chocho - I need a hidden toilet!" Sarada hissed as she sprinted to the door.

"A hidden toilet?"

"Do you wanna to see how well I do with standing urination?"

"Dial down the sarcasm, young lady-lad." Chocho pointed down the hallway, "Turn on your left, down 3 flights of stairs and you'll be at the back of the gym. No one uses those."

"Thank you!" Sarada shouted as she ran her way down the hall.

"Your bag!" The big girl called out and then huffed, "I'm too pretty to carry all this."

Sarada sighed with relief as she exited the toilet; you know you had a bad day when you forget to wee. She turned to look around; no wonder no used this toilet, this was spine-chilling place.

"Haru, fancy meeting you around here." A familiar voice called out. Sarada could feel the hair standing on the back of her neck.

"Hm, this does look like a strange coincidence." She answered while steadily stepping back. Boruto came out of the shadows with a smirk. Sarada continued, "I apologize, I didn't mean to distract you from your… illicit, activities."

Boruto confidently walked forward and the girl continued to walk back until she felt the wall behind her.

"I think you have something else to apologize for." The blond spoke, leaning over her with his hand against the wall. Sarada started to feel dizzy, he was stepping way too much into her bubble. This boy she barely met was closer to her that anyone but her family had been in her life and her Uchiha genes were not coping well with it. She could see the bright blue of his eyes up close, his well toned arm leaning against the wall. He was so close she could smell the smoke on his breath. That was enough to wake her from the Boruto-induced day dreaming.

"You smoke?" Boruto seemed taken back for a second; Sarada fear evaporated and was promptly replaced with incredulity, "The behavior I could still pass as some teenager rebellion but smoking? What would your father say?"

That's the last thing Sarada remembers saying before she had to quickly duck to avoid a fist that flew straight into her direction.

"I am going to kill you!" The blonde flew into a rage and tried to hit her again, Sarada dodged and tripped a few steps away from him.

"What is wrong with you?!" She shouted.

"Me? What is wrong with you, you crazy fucker!" Boruto turned to her, his face burning, "You come in here on your first day and you think you know me? You think you can just talk shit about my family?"

"I am not talking shit about your family, I'm saying the truth about you!"

Sarada ducked a punch again and jumped as Boruto went for a kick.

The blond was fuming, drops of sweat coming down his face.

"Stop this." Sarada spoke, fighting to catch her breath, "this is ridiculous."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before!" The blond ran towards her again, fist in the air.

Sarada was tired, this had to stop. In a normal situation Boruto was stronger than her, but after she slams a fist onto his crotch hard, it's no longer a normal situation. Boruto walked backwards, holding on to his crotch as he shouted an extremely creative string of curse words. Sarada took that as her queue to leave and ran out the door.

Chocho was leaning against the main gym door, playing on her phone as she not so patiently waited for her friend. She then suddenly spotted a blur of black hair ruining in her direction.

"Oi Saru, how long does it take you to-" Chocho's words were promptly interrupted as her friend grabbed her hand and dragged out of there, "What the-"

"I kicked Uzumaki in the balls!" The dark haired girl half-shouted as she continued to run.

Chocho gapped, "Do you have a death wish?" She then helpfully added, "I'll notify your next of kin."

It was fine. She was fine. She just needed to move to Peru and start a new life as an Alpaca breeder; she always liked alpacas. It would probably still be easier than all this pretend-boy business.

The following day was probably the first time in two years that Boruto had been early for class, as Mitsuki kindly pointed out. The three boys stopped by Boruto's house expecting to see him still half-asleep, leaning on top of the gate as always but instead found a clearly confused Hinata that informed them that her son had autonomously decided to get to school early today.

As Boruto was nowhere to be found, they eventually looked in their own classroom where they found him sitting with his head resting against his arms on the table and a vacant look in his eyes.

Before they had a chance to ask, the blond simply stated, "I'm in pain, I could barely sleep and if I had to see my mom worry about me a second longer I might have just jumped out the window."

"What happened?" Mitsuki appeared genuinely concerned as he sat in front of his friend.

"I got kicked in the balls by the new kid."

Inojin failed to stifle a laugh, Mitsuki gave him a look and Shikadai sighed, "That's not right, a man should know that is an out of boundaries area."

Inojin grinned, "I'm not saying it was right, I'm saying it was funny."

Boruto glared at him, "What about if I punch you in the dick and then you can see for yourself how hilarious it is?"

Mitsuki looked at Inojin, promptly interrupting, "I thought you were with him."

He shrugged, "I was, but then I got hungry. When I came back he was gone."

'I was gone to cry quietly in a corner', Boruto thought. He didn't say it out loud as he could bet Inojin-the-perv would make some kind of joke about him 'licking his wounds'.

"What are you going to do?"

Boruto gritted his teeth, "Break his kneecaps with a baseball bat."

Shikadai leaned against the window and studied the celing, "While that would be morally justified, you may want to keep your righteous anger in check." His friends turned to look at him in unison, "Remember your strikes."

As much as it pained him to say, Shikadai was right.

Strike number one had something to do with a totally accidental fire that he set to the chemistry lab. He tried to defend himself and explain that he should be really the one upset as such dangerous chemicals should not be left near children. Mr. Konohamaru had a visible vein popping on his forehead as he explain that maybe if Boruto didn't bother to skip class to break into the chemistry lab and then proceed to open the locked cupboard with stolen keys, this probably wouldn't have happened.

Strike number two happened when his dad, the Great Hokage, came to visit the school to inspire young minds and some handsome devil decided to create a wonderful graffiti art piece on the floor of the gym, depicting with master detail how the Hokage should "eat dick". Boruto tried his best to look offended when Konohamaru accused him of such deeds but unfortunately his teacher was not born yesterday and was - as he put it - borderline exhausted of his fucking jokes. 'Really, a teacher shouldn't curse' Boruto added with a 'tche' for good measure. That earned him a week of school cleaning.

Konohamaru had reminded him many times that the third strike would be his last one.

In fairness, Boruto was not practically fond of beating up anyone. He liked it much better when intimidation did the job and he didn't need to get his hands dirty. But this Saru boy had a very particular way of messing with every nerve on his body.

When Sarada arrived to class she spotted her archenemy and froze on the spot, she then took a deep breath a reminded herself that despite what everyone did or did not know about her she was an Uchiha and the Uchihas might be a lot of things but cowards is not one of them. She bravely stepped forward and focused on her table only. The dark haired girl could feel the stare of those deep blue eyes but she did not waver. Thankfully at that time Mr. Konohamaru arrived, he welcomed the class and then turned to Boruto, "Any pressing matters you had to resolve yesterday, Uzumaki?"

Boruto said nothing but his face turned a light shade of pink. The teacher appeared particularly surprised by the lack of response, "See me before lunch." The blond nodded.

Nothing much happened during class. Mitsuki passed to Sarada a little piece of paper with a very detailed drawing of her kicking Boruto that was proudly signed at the bottom by none other than Inojin. She looked up and he winked at her, which earned him a slap to the back of the head from Boruto.

She considered the brave and adult thing to do was to apologize. Despite him being the biggest jerk to ever grace this earth, she had been out of her place to speak about his family, her mother taught her better than this. Also, she could not imagine spending her whole school year looking over her shoulder.

Sarada thought she should apologize in a very, very public place in case things didn't go according to plan; She wouldn't want to end up showing a little bit more than bravery - like intestines.

Surprisingly, Boruto didn't even look at her the whole day. He was absent during lunch but he did not miss the afternoon period as he did the day before. Sarada kept bracing herself for the shouting that never came. It never came not because Boruto didn't think about beating Saru up – he did, in many creatively painful ways – but because a third strike would cost him too much. He could not face his mother if he had to tell her that he failed the last year of school for beating someone up. There are only so many looks of disappointment he could take.

This absence of a reaction seemed to only make Sarada feel worse. She was expecting at least some shouting or chair throwing but Boruto just seemed to ignore her.

So, she waited after school for him on the outside courtyard where there were plenty of witnesses. She waited two full hours until her patience was gone and the sun was beginning to set and the last student left so there wasn't really anyone to witness. As she stood to leave, Boruto showed up, bag thrown over one shoulder as he slowly made his way to the door.

Sarada hesitated at first but this weight on her conscious was becoming too much. She stood and walked fast towards him, the blond did not look at her.

"You'll have to save your disapproval for another day, pretty boy." He said as he kept walking. "I have other things to worry about right now."

"I just want to apologize."

"There is no point in apologizing, I'm still going to beat your ass one of these days," Boruto regarded the area around him as if he looking to avoid someone, "Just not today."

The girl in boy's uniform swallowed her fear and continued to follow him, "What are you looking for?"

"My dignity." He whispered and rolled his eyes as Sarada continued to look at him. "Paparazzi." She looked at him quizzically. "It's just like you said, little one. I am shaming the great Hokage and that sells magazines. The vultures are always here on the days I get detention."

Sarada fell a light squeeze of guilt striking her heart, "How do they know if you had detention?"

Boruto shrugged, "Detention is always after school for two hours. I guess if they come around this time and wait ten minutes they'll be bound to know if I was a bad boy today." He paused as he leaned behind the wall at the front gate, looking for them.

Sarada looked at the floor and mumbled, "What if you stayed to show the new student around?" The taller boy glanced at her. "It's a good thing, right? You didn't screw up again, you stayed to help. Let them sell that if they want to."

Boruto didn't seem entirely convinced. Sarada almost pouted, "Come on, I need to make up for yesterday somehow."

The blond seemed surprised for a second. He looked the other way as he said, "This doesn't cut it."

"It's a start!" She insisted.

"My crotch begs to differ."

They both stood there, glaring at each other for a few seconds. Sarada sighed, "Let's walk home together and then we can think about it."

Boruto wavered at first; he then nodded and turned to look through the gates again, "I see three of them at least."

"I got you." Sarada smiled and dragged him by the wrist through the gate; Boruto turned a very slight shade of pink as she shouted loud and clear, "Thank you so much for showing me around Boruto-kun! You are such a good student!"

"Tha-Thank you." He faltered as they walked past the hiding vultures and down the street.

"See, that wasn't too bad." She smiled at him. Boruto looked away and put his hands behind his head.

"I guess." He paused.

"Okay, you can be my personal slave for a month."

"Excuse me?" Sarada stopped, placing a hand on her hip and quickly removing it as she realized it was unmanly like behavior.

"You want my pardon, this is what it takes."

"No way."

"A beating it is then." Boruto continued to walk and Sarada sprinted to catch up.

"Stop trying to beat me up. What are you, an ogre?"

"I wonder if I'll be sterile due to the wound you inflicted upon me." The blond said as he dramatically looked at the sky.

"You drama queen. It was a light punch."

He stopped and pointed a finger at her face. "It could be a flick, a man's balls is forbidden territory. You should know that."

Sarada sighed, "Fine, I'll be your- your slave… for a day."

"Three weeks."

"Two days."

"Two weeks."

"Three days."

"The rest of the school week and it's a done deal."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They shook hands and Sarada smirked, "You do realize it's Tuesday so that leaves you with 3 days."

"You sneaky, little-" Boruto started, then he took a deep breath, "That's fine, I'll just make the best out of my three days."

That raised an alarm in Sarada's brain immediately, "We need ground rules."

"What? No way, everything goes." Sarada raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, one rule. Nothing gay."

"Well, isn't that an idiotic rule."

"What's your idea then?"

"Only up to 7pm."

Boruto gasped outrage interrupted her, "Nothing fun happens before 7pm."

She ignored him, "Nothing illegal."

"Just kill all the fun why don't you?" The dark haired one glared and was ignored. "Well it's still early so I still get to enjoy my slave for a couple more hours." Boruto winked at her, his mood seemed to be improving.

Sarada looked away, fighting that senseless urge to blush at that aggressive idiot's words, "Rub it in, why don't you."

"Let's go to my place. I have a room to be cleaned, clothes to be folded. Who knows, I might even do some homework." He laughed at his own joke but Sarada was not listening, she had just realized his home meant Naruto Uzumaki's home. She was going to visit the home of her childhood hero, walking where he walks, meeting his family… she might even get to see where he sleeps!

"Hey, hey, pretty boy. Saru!" Sarada woke from her trance with a "Hm?"

"We're here."

 _To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Trust me, I'm lying**

Chapter Two

"I'm home!" Boruto announced as he entered the front door, leaving it open for Saru to follow him.

"Brother, welcome home!" Himawari came down the stairs, smiling at her brother. She then turned and saw the other boy standing next to him and froze on the spot. Boruto tilted his head slightly and followed her gaze to Sarada.

"Ah, this is Saruhiko Haru, he's new at my school."

Sarada bowed slightly and smiled, "Please call me Saru, thank you for having me over." Himawari nodded, turned bright red and ran back upstairs.

"What's up with her?" Boruto wondered out loud as he made his way to the kitchen.

He started talking about some task or other that Saru could do for him but Sarada was not listening, not really. She stared in wonder at the house around her. This is the home of Naruto Uzumaki. The table where he ate, the sofa where he relaxed, the window where-

"Oi, Saru?" Sarada blinked at Boruto for that rude interruption of her day dreaming, "I've been calling you for ages." Saru nodded but said nothing, it was Boruto's turn to blink and turn away as he mumbled something about crazy new students.

"So, anyway - you can start by cooking us dinner. Something quick but delicious, that you can finish before my mom arrives from her shopping." Boruto threw himself on the couch, arms behind his head.

Sarada raised an eyebrow as she rested her bag on the couch next to his feet, "How do you even know if I can cook?"

He raised a questioning eyebrow, "Well, can you?"

Something suddenly popped into her mind, "Is the Hokage going to eat what I cook?"

Boruto frowned at her, "Are you one of those weirdos that are obsessed with my dad?"

"…No." Yes, yes she was. The blond's menacing look dragged the lie out, "Fine. The man is a hero! He literally saved Konoha I don't know how many times, he fought through injustice and prejudice all his life and now look at him!" She pointed at the family picture on the wall, "The man is a national treasure."

Boruto was arranging his thoughts neatly so he could throw Naruto-related-facts at his frienemy until they agreed about what kind of man Naruto really was. Himawari and her cuteness rudely interrupted him, "Saru-kun," she started, her eyes glowing, "Would you like to look through dad's old pictures with me?"

Boruto's plans came apart as he watched his very easily excited younger sister bring up an old picture album out of nowhere, run to them and indecently shove him out of the couch so Saru and her could sit. Himawari walked Saru through every single picture as if she had been there herself. They laughed together as the blue-eyed girl used day-to-day objects around her as props to describe her father's heroism.

The older Uzumaki pursed his lips as he felt an unexpected pang of jealously at his sister's and Saru's new found friendship. Saru was clearly too innocent to realize that Himawari never took such interest in her brother's friends, clearly this kind of attention was reserved for the good looking ones.

Their moment continued for what it felt like an eternity to Boruto, who was obviously not affected by any of this. His unaffectedness was actually very well proven by the fact he had now pealed about 12 potatoes for dinner without even knowing what he was going to cook. Well, whatever it was it would now have to include at least 12 pealed potatoes.

Sarada was unbelievably happy with Himawari. Unlike her brother, she was cute, friendly and seemed quite eager to impress. If only all the Uzumaki children were like that. Sarada flipped through album pages, asking her about little details that she seemed to know everything about. However, the closer they got to the end the easier it was for the young Uchiha to realize that there were no photos of her father in the album and very few of her mother, "Seems like there is quite a few famous ninjas missing in these pictures, though. Doesn't it?"

Himawari flipped her hair and gave her new friend an all knowing look, "Well, dad says some people are not deserving enough to get into his album so he keeps separate ones."

Sarada nodded and said nothing, trying to contain her disappointment. A few minutes passed with the other girl excitedly referring to her dad's war trophies; Sarada decided that was enough polite time given after their last conversation so she could make her way out, "I'm very sorry Himawari-chan, I have to go."

The blue-eyed girl blushed at the suffix and nodded. Sarada took that moment to grab her bag and quickly get out the door. Boruto dropped his pealed potato number 15 on the floor in surprise, "Where you going? You still haven't cooked dinner!" But the other was long gone. The blond stood abruptly and ran to the door, swiftly putting his shoes as he got there. As he was getting out his sister spoke,

"Hey, nii-san." Himawari winked and prodded herself into a fighting stance, fists up and all, "I will fight you for him."

Boruto rolled his eyes - as if she didn't know who would win that fight (definitely Himawari).

The blond jogged out the door and a few seconds later spotted Saru's little frame at the distance, he ran as fast as he could,

"HEY, hey, where do you think you're going? It's still servitude time!" Sarada could hear Boruto calling out as she increased her pace.

"I'll pay it some other day." She called out.

"Well, you should really discuss this with your master before you-" As the girl sped up her pace the blond did the same, "My God, you're fast."

Sarada ran, Boruto followed. She had always been a fast runner but keeping her distance from the other was more difficult than she expected. They sprinted until Sarada spotted her apartment. Her initial plan was to hide and let the blond run past her. However, the idiot managed to trip on a rock and fall knees-first on the pavement. She took a deep breath to contain her annoyance and made his way to him, helping him up as he moaned and rubbed his scrapped knees.

"What was that? Why did you bolt?" Boruto asked, still trying to catch his breath.

"I'm just feeling tired after my second day in school ended up with a slavery contract." The blond gave her a self-explanatory look; she was not getting out of this so easily.

She had no patience for this right now, "Leave, Boruto."

"No, I've been running after you for the last 10 minutes, I want an explanation." Or some oxygen, whichever. He really felt about to pass out, "Just so we're clear I'm much better at running usually. Not so much at speed, but like – like endurance."

Sarada studied the scene for a bit and came to the conclusion that she could probably make it up the stairs and into her apartment before Boruto could recover from his current state of hyperventilation. She was wrong.

As soon as she turned around and started running again the blond groaned loudly in frustration but still followed her up the stairs and annoyingly stopped her just in time. Now Boruto had his hand above her head, planted on the door right over the second lock. Sarada stood in front of him, keys still inserted on the first lock. Damn her for being over cautious and locking both.

"So this is where you live." He was so close behind her that she could feel his still running-related heavy breathing.

Sarada tried not to get distracted by his closeness, making a point of sounding a stern as possible, "Yes, leave."

"Not until you tell me what happened."

"I don't need to tell you anything."

"I can be very convincing." Sarada was a hundred percent sure he was trying to threaten her with physical violence with that statement but considering their current position it was very hard for her to think of it like that.

He smelled the same as the day he tried to beat her up, she thought. Boruto was too close again; her legs refused to move, her head was spinning, her scarlet face must have been obvious if not for the fact that some running had just taken place. The man was way too stubborn for his own good.

Sarada understood there were not many ways out of this. She doubted she could get away with kicking him in between the legs again and she could not open the door while he had his hand over the lock. The other option was to play the sad card and just cry her way out of this, but she figured she lost enough pride today.

Boruto could feel this was an uneasy issue by how obvious it was that the other boy was weighing his options. Nevertheless, his curiosity would not allow him to drop it. "We can speak inside." He offered. The sudden mortified look that took over Saru's face made him even more curious.

The Uchiha girl on her side did not think that was a good idea at all. She did try her best to make her home look as manly as she could but the blond was much smarter than he let on and she definitely didn't think he would take her female reality very well.

"My dad was a traitor during the ward." Sarada blurted out, looking at the floor.

Boruto's hand left the door as he leaned back slightly; he was not expecting _that_ answer for sure. He was expecting something among the lines of how he could not listen to Himawari blabber on and on, or how Saru stole something from his dad and wanted to hide it as soon as possible. What are you supposed to 'my dad was a traitor'?

"Uh- I, well - what happened to him?" There you go, eloquence in its prime.

"He died." Sarada said it in almost a whisper. She took a deep breath a turned to look at Boruto, keeping her face as straight as possible to make sure he believe her. Sasuke Uchiha was not dead, she was sure of that.

The reason both her and her mother stayed away from the village was so that he could see them more often, so they could try and be a normal family. It worked for a while but her father's missions kept him away from home most of the time anyway – for someone only considered a traitor by the village he was definitely dedicated. Sasuke had explained to her many times that Naruto tried his best to convince everyone of how good he was – the 'now' was implicit. He also explained that Naruto was an idiot and probably over did it by ignoring all the betraying he had actually admitted to doing and expecting nothing else than the whole village to treat him like a hero. Obviously, they were having none of that and so both sides came to the agreement that Sasuke would not be arrested as long as he worked towards the Leaf Village's well being while never actually stepping inside it. Her father considered this a fair point; Naruto apparently threw a fit about it and sulked for the next few weeks, causing a disgruntled council to promise to eventually consider Sasuke's return for retirement.

It still hurt her that her father's choices cost them a normal life at the village. It hurt more just imagining the pain he had been through being all-alone in the world, seeking revenge by killing his only living family.

Boruto watched Saru and he could see was aching. He couldn't understand if he felt breathless from running or if this feeling of powerlessness was making him suffocate.

This was Boruto's problem. He cared too much; he got involved in everyone's pain and carried it with him. But that was before; when he became a teenager something just took over him and he decided the only way to become immune to everybody else's feelings was to become cold and detached, and it worked. At least it worked until this person in front of him that barely resembled a young adult was honest enough to bare his pain to a stranger. Boruto hadn't cared for so long he almost forgot what it felt like to be drowned by somebody else's emotions.

The blond stepped forward but his movements came to a halt suddenly - this was too much, he barely knew Saru, it was not his place to comfort him.

"I'm- I'm sorry." He said, leaving his arms to fall to his sides, "Who was he?"

'Your dad's best friend that he previously described as a shadow Hokage but could not be bothered to have one picture of him on his oh-so-important album of famous people' was what Sarada wanted to say. What she actually blurted out in a hurry was "Not important enough for anyone to know."

Boruto said nothing. Instead he kept staring at her with those big blue eyes, expecting her to continue. Sarada responded with a shrug, "It was a bit upsetting to remind myself that my dad was more part of the problem than the solution."

"Are you okay?"

Sarada looked at him in a new light. It was much harder to hate him when he was kind.

"I'm used to it." She said with a sad smile.

He nodded.

Boruto returned home and did a lot of deep thinking that night. He though through everything that had happened the previous night and decided that what Saru had told him was deeply personal information and that he should not show he had been affected by it or he would be breaking Saru's trust.

By this he actually meant he planned to continue to be the insensitive asshole he'd been before,

"Hello, slave."

"I have a name."

"Whatever. You should be proud of yourself, I'm on time today. That is how much of a good influence you are."

"You're here on time just to bully me? Aw, you shouldn't have."

Boruto ignored him and dropped a pile of books on him, "You can carry those."

"I don't think we have this many classes today."

"We don't."

Boruto turned his back and started walking with a pretty obviously miserable Sarada behind him. The day had barely started and she had already been condemned to hell.

Again the curious students stopped their conversations to pay close attention to Boruto's antics; most of the looked unsurprised.

"So," she started, "Made many people carry your books in the past?"

The blond turned back to give her a confident look, "This is just the price of being popular. People want to know about your life." Sarada was sure that meant to sound cocky but it came out in a much sadder tone than he intended. She guessed it would certainly cost part of anyone's sanity to be under constant scrutiny, be it at home by your parents or out in the world by everyone else. It made her feel sad for him, a feeling that was swiftly gone when her arms and fingers started getting numb with the weight of the books.

As they entered the main building a couple of guys walked past them, one of which shared a delightful "loser" comment towards Sarada that she didn't hear but worry not, it rang loud and clear on Boruto's ears, "Hello Bieber," the blond called out, Haven't learned what a man's hairstyle looks like yet?"

The guy's face turned bright red as he was reluctantly dragged away by his obviously intimidated friend. The Hokage's had a triumphant smirk plastered on his face as Sarada judged him and direly spoke, "Aren't you adorable."

"Mind your own business, slave."

"Is it the air around the school that makes you act like a retard?"

"You're my slave this week so you better behave."

"I might be a slave but my mouth still works you-"

Their bantering came to a halt as the tree stooges, as Sarada mentally named the Shika-Ino-Mitsu group (alternatively named Shinomi when she discussed them with Chocho), approached them. Shikadai was the first to notice the ridiculous amount of books the new guy was holding, "What's this?"

"This is Saru-slave. A new and improved version of old Saru." Sarada stared blankly at them as Boruto gave her a pat on the back strong enough to make the books sway in her arms.

"He looks impressed by the title." Shikadai said as Inoji laughed and Mitsuki maintained his same old creepy smile. The Uchiha wondered if anyone had actually ever bothered to tell him how freakish it was.

"Do I want to know what led to this?"

"Where to start?"

"Near the end, preferably." Sarada mumble as her words were drowned out by an unnecessarily loud and inaccurate description by Boruto of how Saru had specifically requested, no - begged - to be his slave so he could learn from the Great Master about how he could become the epitome of perfection and god-like flawlessness. She raised an eyebrow at the idiocy of his words but gave a background nod to his enriched vocabulary while describing fictional situations.

"Hey," Inoji interrupted, signaling his friend with a slight nod to a group of girls walking behind him. Boruto seemed slightly irritated by the interference of his very eloquent description but it dissipated instantly as he turned his attention to the girls.

"Is she new?" He asked turning to Shikadai. It was really useful to have a genius with a memory of an elephant on your side at many times, however Boruto seemed to use it for all the wrong reasons.

"No, but that is certainly some late maturing."

"I'm up for that."

"What is he doing?" She asked Mitsuki whom despite his obviously peculiar ways still appeared to be the most mentally stable.

"He's hitting on her," "Have you been living under a rock?"

"He seems really… into it."

"He is."

"Are you sure he doesn't know her?"

"He doesn't."

"Oh my God, is he going to kiss her?" If any guy would just walk up to her and in less than one minute tried to kiss her he would find out what it felt like to have his head smashed against a wall.

"What's with all the questions?"

Careful, Sarada. Your girl is showing. "I'm a feminist."

"I value my breath so it would be nice if you didn't take it away every time you walk by."

The girl giggled, Sarada looked for somewhere to barf.

"Please tell me this is not a once a day occurrence."

"It's not." Mitsuki helpfully offered, "It's an average of three times a day occurrence."

'I don't think I can manage this three times a day' Sarada thought as she tried to remind herself this was not a completely unexpected behavior and that the Uzumaki was an idiotic bully so she should really start lowering her conduct standards for him.

"He can't possibly find the time for this three times a day." Or pull off the imagination for the corny lines. "Do we even have that many girls in this school?" She would try to figure out the math later.

"Well, one of three is usually towards Sumire."

Sarada remembered that name, she was sure Chocho had introduced her before, "The class rep?"

Shikadai shook his head, "I never saw him look like that, barely able to concentrate, stumbling, forgetting his words."

Inoji laughed, "It was amazing."

Shikadai shrugged, "Puppy love."

Sarada was about to ask for more details when the bell rang and the girl next to Boruto giggled her goodbyes. He strolled back the group, a confident grin on his face as he combed his fingers through that perfect hair of his. He turned to Sarada, "Impressed, little boy?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Grossed out."

The blond's expression turned sour but Mitsuki interrupted by pushing them both softly towards the classroom, "Let's try not to be late for class for once in our lives, shall we?"

Boruto turned away from them with an angry huff and walked faster towards the classroom. He sat down and shortly after Sarada came in, dumping all the books on his table. Mitsuki again sat in between them, Inoji was in front of him and Shikadai to his left next to the window, with Sarada behind him.

Konohamaru didn't take long to come in and start the class. A couple of hours passed and Sarada's attentiveness in the teacher's words declined.

She spotted Sumire at one of the front desks and wondered what is it about this girl that turned the powerful, confident and loud Uzumaki into the shy little boy that Shikadai described. The class rep was pretty, she had to give her that. Her face seemed like a cut out of a magazine, her purple hair was neatly braided and she seemed to have a lean looking body.

"If you're wondering what's so special about her," Shikadai started, in the most bored whisper that a human had ever uttered, "She told him no."

Sarada was about to ask him to go into details when she felt a piece of paper knock her in the head. She swiftly turned to glare and saw Inoji winking at her, leaning halfway down his chair as he seemed to always sit in class. She opened the wrinkled piece of paper: 'I still think it was the legs', it said with a little long legged Sumire illustration at the bottom, complete with an ogling Boruto face. Sarada tried to look at the purple haired girl's legs but Sumire sat all the way down the front right corner, in front of Chocho, and it was hard to tell from this distance how good her legs looked.

Maybe Boruto would look at her the same way if she had legs up to her neck.

Sarada flushed dark red at the thought. What was she thinking? Why would it matter it Boruto even looked at her? She was playing a boy for heaven's sake, she had enough to worry about without having anyone look at her legs under the purposely-loose dark fabric of her male pants. She shoved Inoji's note into her pencil case as if it was the sole cause of her line of thought. Really, she would not ever have wondered about Boruto looking at her legs if it wasn't for that note. Maybe. Probably. Whatever.

Mr. Konohamaru's voice woke her from her daydreaming as he asked for Sumire to come up to the board and complete one of the problems he had written down. Sarada immediately looked from the corner of her eye to Boruto only to see him half asleep on his table, absent-mindedly spinning a pen, not looking the part of the head over heels boy she was expecting him to be.

The rest of the morning went by slowly once Boruto suddenly realized during their morning break that it would hilarious if Saru would laugh every time the teacher asked a question. Sarada nearly collapsed at his idea; she had never, EVER, misbehaved in class. Boruto helpfully offered a much worse alternative to his previous idea in which she would have to wink at the teacher every time he looked at her. Laughing it is then.

Konohamaru considered the new student was perhaps just nervous about his questions and laughing was a not-so-surprising response. Soon he was annoyed and reprimanded the boy, who then seemed to be on the verge of tears so he rapidly gave up on that and decided to ignore the laughing. The teacher finally noticed a clearly amused Boruto, snickering constantly, finally realizing this was somehow obviously related to the well-known troublemaker. That earned the blond a slap to the back of the head and a stern warning before the students left for lunch. Boruto tried his best to look innocent but the teacher knew him for too long now and seemed almost immune to his charm. Almost.

"Explain to me again why you didn't get anything more than a warning after all that?" Sarada angrily hissed as they came out of the classroom and made their way to the canteen.

Her classmate shrugged with a smirk, "It's all about the charm, Saru. You'll never know what that is." Sarada was about to voice her discontent but decided this will probably only increase her odds of crap jobs in her remaining time in the agreement. Once they entered the canteen she spotted Chocho sitting with her friends and started to make her way towards them. Boruto stopped her, pulling her by the back of the shirt, "Saru-slave, you're having lunch with me. And by that I mean, go grab me my lunch."

She glared at him, fighting the urge to just punch him in the dick as she had done before. Sarada kept her glare as she walked away to grab their lunches. When she walked back Boruto demanded that she cut his food for him and waited for her master to finish eating before she started her own meal, as he might need assistance at any time. She felt her eyebrow twitch but nodded.

Fortunately Boruto ate like a bear and finished his meal in about 3 minutes. He then mentioned how disappointing it was that Saru had brought fruit for his own desert instead of a chocolate pudding that the blond was craving for after finishing his own.

Sarada took the chance to dig into her food, as Boruto was busy bullying some juniors out of their desert while Inoji and Shikadai laughed at his antics.

Eventually she noticed Mitsuki watching silently with that creepy smile of his.

"What?" She said, but with her mouth so full it sounded much more like 'wuaumth?´

"Boruto," He started, "He's a good guy once you get to know him."

Sarada swallowed her food and huffed, "All I heard was he is a jerk but you'll get used to it."

"He has a lot of pressure to be like his father so his anger comes out in curious ways."

"He's a bully, they all come with daddy issues."

"I think you can be a good influence on him."

Sarada huffed at that, "His father is the Hokage and he can't change him. What can I do?"

"You don't seem as impressed by him as everyone else."

Sarada snorted, "He's a little broken boy that spends his time tormenting others."

Mitsuki nodded, "You see him for what he really is, what else do you need?"

She pointed a fork at Mitsuki, "I'm not going to make him my charity case. You seem to know him better than I do."

"I do. I've known him forever and I can tell you he wasn't always this cruel. He used to be very kind. He changed." The blue haired boy continued to look ahead, "Imagine how happy the Hokage would be to see his son return to his true potential."

'You manipulative little son of a- breath, Sarada.' She stopped her line of thinking, reminding herself she was the one that appeared to have anger issues now.

Sarada's thoughts were again rudely interrupted as she felt a familiar arm fall on her shoulders. Boruto had propped himself next to her as he loudly stated something about Saru now needing to refer to him as 'your highness'.

The rest of the day followed exactly as anyone would predict. Boruto managed to think of the most humiliating activities in class to test both Sarada and Konohamaru's patience.

"To spare you the details, let's just say there was a lot of whistling, pretend-crying and idiocy involved, mom." Sarada spoke as she threw herself on top of her bed, still holding her bag in one hand and her phone in the other.

"Are you enjoying it?" Sakura tested, regretting her earlier cheerful tone as she had asked, 'How was my boy's first day?' with a clear overdose of enthusiasm.

"Well, I haven't been punched in the face yet so everything is super-duper."

"Sarada…" Her mom spoke with a warning tone.

Sarada sighed exasperatedly, "I'm fine, mama. Everything's intact." 'Except my dignity', she mentally added.

That night Sarada went to bed making a mental list of the reasons why all this had been a terrible idea. She then recalled all the crap she went through the whole day but for some reason Boruto's smile kept popping up in her mind and interrupting the mental list she was making of all the reasons that boy is going to hell. 'I have to try harder to hate him', she thought as she fell asleep.

 _To be continued..._

* * *

 _Hello, just a small side note: this story is set in the normal Naruto universe but with a twist. After the war people are no longer trained to be shinobi in a way to avoid further violence. As such, the Academy is now a regular school._

 _Sakura did not return to the village after Sarada's birth so Sasuke could see them more often (as he is not technically allowed to be there)._


End file.
